EUGLENA VIRIDIS 



51 



which it propels itself through the water; also a red eye- 



spot, and a number of minute bodies coloured with 



chlorophyll. The cell membrane is elastic, enabling 



the organism to assume curious forms. It is not com- 



posed of cellulose. Within the body occur many 



minute plates of paramylum, a substance allied to starch. 



Euglena viridis multiplies either by lon- 



gitudinal fission or by the formation of 



cysts, within which a single cell divides 



into two, four, or even more individuals. 



In the matter of nutrition it seems that 



Euglena can ingest tiny particles of food, 



indicating an animal mode of feeding, 



and also assimilate carbon dioxide and 



form carbon compounds, a power indi- 



cated by the chloroplasts and the 



paramylum bodies; thus, it shows both 



animal and plant characters. The ab- 



sence of cellulose in the cell-membrane 



is noteworthy. 



May we not regard Euglena as a by- 

 product of evolution, suggesting an 

 ancestral stage in the rise of certain 

 green plants ? We do not suggest for a 







moment that this organism is one which 

 itself anciently led on to higher forms; all we ven- 

 ture to submit is that it indicates a remote develop- 

 ment in the course of which primitive monads, 

 through the production of chlorophyll, gradually 

 assumed plant characters. Perhaps in Euglena the 

 animal and plant characters are fairly evenly balanced, 

 but we can imagine a series of developments leading to 



HIGHLY 

 FIEDt 



MAGNI- 



c, paramylum 

 *"f ^f 8 ; d > chr - 



matophores. 



